Antioch Road opens Tuesday

BATON ROUGE- The first phase of work on Antioch Road in Baton Rouge was complete on Tuesday and now open to drivers.

Antioch Road will now cross Old Jefferson to Airline Highway. Crews started work on the $5 million dollar project back in around August of 2014. Engineers hope the road will lighten traffic delays in other areas of the city. The Department of Public Works project engineer said the new road is expected to save drivers about about 10 to 25 minutes in their commute.

"It's only been a year and they've laid down 4 lanes," said Vincent Granier, who owns a nearby business L & S Automotive repair. "We've had so much congestion in the pass couple of years with accidents and people running through the red light or going through the ditch into the church, so this is great."

The next phase will add a left turn lane from Old Jefferson Highway to Antioch Road. Construction on the turn lane is expected to finish up by the end of October.